Soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Guard have been drafted in to help restore a wheelchair-friendly pathway on the banks of the Dee which was destroyed in the Storm Frank floods.
The all abilities access path which runs alongside the Royal Family’s Balmoral Estate, at Crathie Opportunity Holidays, was partly washed away when the worst flooding in centuries hit the region on December 30.
A team of six trainees from the Cairngorms Outdoor Access Trust (COAT) has now got to work on rebuilding a 426ft section of the popular riverside route.
And squadrons of six from the Queen’s Guard have taken turnabout lending them a hand on the pathway, which was used by both Balmoral visitors and guests at Crathie Opportunity Holiday.
Disabled clients staying at the site – which offers wheelchair friendly self-catering accommodation – have been unable to access the path all year.
COAT senior access projects manager, Murray Swapp, has redesigned the pathway to make it more accessible for wheelchair users and durable against future flooding using a grass paving surface.
He added: “The all abilities path was built back in 2006. When Storm Frank hit it was an aggregate-based path and it washed away 130m (426ft) of soil on the riverside section of the all abilities path.
“There will be more flooding but that will come from snow melt spates. What will happen is the flood water should glide over the grass surface once the spate has subsided.
“It is the critical part of the path that runs along the River Dee.
“This is one element we can get repaired but obviously there is other lengths of path like the Ballater Golf Course path we’d hope to develop and get back. This is just our first attempt at doing repairs to a path.”
He added the soldiers had been a “really good” help for the team.
The COAT trainees are carrying out the work as part of the £6million for the People and the Mountain Project.
Training officer for the scheme, Keith Mackie, said: “It is good to see the positive impact the course can have. There is an example of damage right below Balmoral car park, it is unusable for wheelchair users and so the numbers have dropped there over the past few weeks.”
He added the guards had been “quite amazed at what our guys can do”.
It is hoped the work on the route can be completed in two weeks time.
